Cards

Cards are a common organizing unit for modern user interfaces (UI). At their core, they’re just rectangular containers with borders and padding. However, when utilized properly to group related information, they help users better digest, engage, and navigate through content. This is why most successful dashboard/UI frameworks make cards a core feature of their component library. This article provides an overview of the API that bslib provides to create Bootstrap cards.

Setup code

To demonstrate that bslib cards work outside of Shiny (i.e., in R Markdown, static HTML, etc), we’ll make repeated use of statically rendered htmlwidgets like plotly and leaflet. Here’s some code to create those widgets:

library(bslib)
library(shiny)
library(htmltools)
library(plotly)
library(leaflet)

plotly_widget <- plot_ly(x = diamonds$cut) %>%
  config(displayModeBar = FALSE) %>%
  layout(margin = list(t = 0, b = 0, l = 0, r = 0))

leaflet_widget <- leafletOptions(attributionControl = FALSE) %>%
  leaflet(options = .) %>%
  addTiles()

Shiny usage

Cards work equally well in Shiny. In the examples below, replace plotly_widget with plotlyOutput() and leaflet_widget with leafletOutput() to adapt them for Shiny server-rendered plots/maps.

Hello `card()`

A card() is designed to handle any number of “known” card items (e.g., card_header(), card_body(), etc) as unnamed arguments (i.e., children). As we’ll see shortly, card() also has some useful named arguments (e.g., full_screen, height, etc).

At their core, card() and card items are just an HTML div() with a special Bootstrap class, so you can use Bootstrap’s utility classes to customize things like colors, text, borders, etc.

card(
  card_header(
    class = "bg-dark",
    "A header"
  ),
  card_body(
    markdown("Some text with a [link](https://github.com)")
  )
)

A header

Some text with a link

Implicit `card_body()`

If you find yourself using card_body() without changing any of its defaults, consider dropping it altogether since any direct children of card() that aren’t “known” card() items, are wrapped together into an implicit card_body() call.¹ For example, the code to the right generates HTML that is identical to the previous example:

card(
  card_header(
    class = "bg-dark",
    "A header"
  ),
  markdown("Some text with a [link](https://github.com).")
)

A header

Some text with a link.

Restricting growth

By default, a card()’s size grows to accommodate the size of it’s contents. Thus, if a card_body() contains a large amount of text, tables, etc., you may want to specify a height or max_height. That said, when laying out multiple cards, it’s likely best not to specify height on the card(), and instead, let the layout determine the height layout_column_wrap().

Although scrolling is convenient for reducing the amount of space required to park lots of content, it can also be a nuisance to the user. To help reduce the need for scrolling, consider pairing scrolling with full_screen = TRUE (which adds an icon to expand the card’s size to the browser window). Notice how, when the card is expanded to full-screen, max_height/height won’t effect the full-screen size of the card.

card(
  max_height = 250,
  full_screen = TRUE,
  card_header(
    "A long, scrolling, description"
  ),
  lorem::ipsum(paragraphs = 3, sentences = 5)
)

A long, scrolling, description

Elit nibh curabitur, cras conubia proin, ultrices ultricies ultricies. Penatibus tincidunt mauris hendrerit cubilia justo curae rutrum sem. Posuere torquent eros metus, bibendum facilisis lacinia; ante enim! Orci vulputate egestas volutpat erat. Orci maecenas facilisis justo sagittis cursus senectus ornare proin tincidunt placerat leo dui platea himenaeos sed lectus bibendum.

Lorem tempor ligula phasellus, libero venenatis curabitur penatibus facilisis? Platea nostra sed est; augue curae natoque convallis – convallis risus aliquet litora. Velit iaculis eros suscipit id, iaculis bibendum molestie pulvinar. Netus eleifend sagittis maecenas tortor, ridiculus non nibh feugiat risus augue viverra venenatis inceptos. Primis purus augue litora class justo cum!

Dolor primis cubilia dictumst neque tristique volutpat enim. Cubilia sociis iaculis; etiam, vel quis magna hendrerit quis. Purus ornare conubia curabitur id mollis, proin varius taciti? Class aliquet habitasse eros rhoncus commodo etiam viverra sodales varius. Pellentesque diam facilisis felis eros tempor, elementum, per cursus dictumst at.

Filling outputs

A card()’s default behavior is optimized for facilitating filling layouts. More specifically, if a fill item (e.g., plotly_widget), appears as a direct child of a card_body(), it resizes to fit the card()s specified height. This means, by specifying height = 250 we’ve effectively shrunk the plot’s height from its default of 400 down to about 200 pixels. And, when expanded to full_screen, the plot grows to match the card()’s new size.

card(
  height = 250,
  full_screen = TRUE,
  card_header("A filling plot"),
  card_body(plotly_widget)
)

A filling plot

Most htmlwidgets (e.g., plotly, leaflet, etc) and some other Shiny output bindings (e.g, plotOutput(), imageOutput(), etc) are fill items by default, so this behavior “just works” in those scenarios. And, in some of these situations, it’s helpful to remove card_body()’s padding, which can be done via spacing & alignment utility classes.

card(
  height = 275,
  full_screen = TRUE,
  card_header("A filling map"),
  card_body(
    class = "p-0",
    leaflet_widget
  ),
  card_footer(
    class = "fs-6",
    "Copyright 2023 RStudio, PBC"
  )
)

A filling map

Fill item(s) aren’t limited in how much they grow and shrink, which can be problematic when a card becomes very small. To work around this, consider adding a min_height on the card_body() container. For example, try using the handle on the lower-right portion of this card example to make the card taller/smaller.

This interactive example is a bit contrived in that we’re using CSS resize to demonstrate how to make plots that don’t shrink beyond a certain point, but this concept becomes quite useful when implementing page-level filling layouts (i.e., page_fillable()) with multiple cards.

card(
  height = 300,
  style = "resize:vertical;",
  card_header("Plots that grow but don't shrink"),
  card_body(
    min_height = 250,
    plotly_widget,
    plotly_widget
  )
)

Plots that grow but don't shrink

Troubleshooting fill

As you’ll learn more about in filling layouts, a fill item loses its ability to fill when wrapped in additional UI element that isn’t a fillable container. To fix the situation, use as_fill_carrier() to allow the additional element to carry the potential to fill from the card_body() down to the fill item.

Multiple `card_body()`

A card() can have multiple card_body()s, which is especially useful for:

Combining both resizable and non-resizable contents (i.e., fill items and non-fill).
Allowing each card_body() to have their own styling (via inline styles and/or utility classes) and resizing limits (e.g., min_height).

For example, when pairing filling output with scrolling content, you may want min_height on the filling output since the scrolling content will force it to shrink:

card(
  height = 375,
  full_screen = TRUE,
  card_header(
    "Filling plot, scrolling description"
  ),
  card_body(
    min_height = 200,
    plotly_widget
  ),
  card_body(
    class = "lead container",
    lorem::ipsum(paragraphs = 10, sentences = 5)
  )
)

Filling plot, scrolling description

Adipiscing pharetra faucibus hac quisque cum consequat, praesent ut ad ac? Velit ad fermentum congue sodales fermentum pretium sem. Justo libero imperdiet tortor pretium fringilla eros, vivamus, vivamus class vehicula lacinia. Sodales luctus ullamcorper, sed nibh sem ultrices. Tortor fermentum nostra nostra sagittis, eros, dictum facilisis montes nostra penatibus imperdiet purus ornare aliquam torquent morbi convallis quam.

Dolor tempor eu varius et est proin fermentum facilisis risus in. Magnis dis orci platea, vitae porta cursus. Odio magna imperdiet iaculis, metus in sodales semper nascetur quam. Facilisi feugiat accumsan montes, justo nisi, dis nullam donec conubia varius fames per. Turpis lacinia nunc, habitasse mi aliquet, quam, congue eu bibendum risus fusce aliquet.

Lorem purus ridiculus; suscipit, aliquam, rutrum feugiat cum justo nulla tempor scelerisque dictumst. Cursus dictumst dis ornare netus, vehicula iaculis aliquet! Dapibus nibh class mauris nostra condimentum viverra eros, eleifend cum integer luctus. Mi auctor eros eu, leo, nullam fusce rutrum morbi litora. Per placerat tristique gravida nascetur, est nisl nulla vehicula facilisis lobortis porta felis elementum.

Dolor vestibulum maecenas commodo interdum tortor mollis aptent parturient gravida volutpat libero facilisi. Id hac aliquam eu mi suspendisse ac. Arcu bibendum quisque et, nam orci! Maecenas rhoncus gravida nec blandit duis rhoncus ad; nunc duis. Ligula nascetur!

Dolor ligula sociis integer nisl eleifend ultrices lectus hendrerit. Sapien taciti placerat venenatis nascetur fermentum ante torquent dis quisque sapien. Suspendisse orci fringilla diam massa, proin – himenaeos eu praesent placerat! Fusce interdum curabitur per, luctus nunc justo sodales lacus torquent netus quam? Primis aptent scelerisque facilisis ultrices: tellus praesent dis justo aliquam nostra eget senectus tempor.

Dolor hac turpis litora maecenas pretium enim senectus. Diam orci urna, aenean morbi vestibulum phasellus malesuada cras litora. Blandit molestie, cubilia integer orci netus morbi. Vel parturient dictum ridiculus proin class, quisque ullamcorper eros tempus natoque nibh. Ac lacus posuere diam faucibus mollis ante quisque tristique: habitant ut tellus ornare justo posuere rutrum mattis.

Lorem risus et sapien parturient et orci placerat. Ultricies mattis pulvinar parturient massa, volutpat faucibus pellentesque habitasse tortor. Iaculis faucibus a duis risus cursus feugiat cum volutpat nostra tempus pellentesque. Pellentesque erat urna magnis placerat vestibulum magnis tempor nec nec congue. A hac dui est morbi posuere!

Consectetur conubia enim malesuada nulla vitae taciti mattis viverra at primis consequat! Quisque nunc dapibus cursus justo, himenaeos, aenean nascetur est. Rutrum suscipit inceptos feugiat congue rutrum iaculis consequat penatibus rhoncus viverra ad? Vehicula mattis inceptos vel enim congue urna himenaeos, tellus, lectus, vitae lectus libero! Donec curae sagittis, eleifend odio.

Amet suspendisse euismod, facilisi ultrices dis, diam facilisis mattis et non? Ad nascetur volutpat, inceptos fringilla mollis varius dui fermentum integer lacus. Facilisi penatibus convallis tortor sed netus vulputate pretium pulvinar. Montes nam ultrices curae, congue curabitur, vestibulum volutpat euismod molestie! Dictum quam vivamus inceptos pellentesque, vulputate duis mattis, per varius, quis, tempus bibendum ad eu sociis?

Ipsum hac bibendum – nisi ut: commodo dui dapibus? Nulla natoque venenatis a molestie dapibus dictumst tincidunt pulvinar? Vulputate viverra lacus class praesent sociosqu maecenas, vitae habitasse porttitor. Molestie varius eu volutpat interdum, enim luctus dictum accumsan: sociosqu ultricies fringilla accumsan. Vitae vestibulum penatibus purus suspendisse.

Also, when the content has a fixed size, and should not be allowed to scroll, set fill = FALSE:

card(
  height = 350,
  full_screen = TRUE,
  card_header(
    "Filling plot, short description"
  ),
  plotly_widget,
  card_body(
    fill = FALSE, gap = 0,
    card_title("A subtitle"),
    p(class = "text-muted", "And a caption")
  )
)

Filling plot, short description

A subtitle

And a caption

Multiple columns

As you’ll learn in column-based layouts, layout_column_wrap() is great for multi-column layouts that are responsive and accommodate for filling output. Here we have an equal-width 2-column layout using width = 1/2, but it’s also possible to have varying column widths.

card(
  height = 350,
  full_screen = TRUE,
  card_header("A multi-column filling layout"),
  card_body(
    min_height = 200,
    layout_column_wrap(
      width = 1/2,
      plotOutput("p1"),
      plotOutput("p2")
    )
  ),
  lorem::ipsum(paragraphs = 3, sentences = 5)
)

A multi-column filling layout

Lorem velit cras phasellus libero porttitor nascetur natoque nibh cubilia vitae? Purus lectus egestas habitasse euismod blandit urna, praesent pulvinar tortor dui donec. Class aliquet tempus parturient libero imperdiet eu diam! Et fames lacus eu proin quis sociosqu id at – lobortis pharetra! Rutrum dictumst volutpat pulvinar lacus placerat fusce!

Amet vestibulum sagittis imperdiet laoreet ultricies nulla netus mus cubilia. Hendrerit augue viverra id nullam: mollis malesuada ridiculus hendrerit. Ante cum quam fusce, integer, inceptos molestie, iaculis varius proin orci venenatis non justo. Ligula fusce massa sodales tortor, ligula facilisis fermentum; lectus vitae eleifend dictum mus. Enim etiam dignissim aenean taciti.

Sit scelerisque felis luctus cras mi quisque mauris tempor senectus risus erat nam. Nascetur sodales fringilla fermentum blandit aenean dapibus. Malesuada duis venenatis tincidunt primis mauris: nisi, a convallis. Erat nisi aliquam ridiculus erat praesent, commodo arcu ut. Tellus congue tempus luctus platea erat volutpat mus at justo et nisi.

Multiple cards

layout_column_wrap() is especially nice for laying out multiple cards since each card in a particular row will have the same height (by default). Learn more in column-based layouts.

layout_column_wrap(
  width = 1/2,
  height = 300,
  card(full_screen = TRUE, card_header("A filling plot"), plotly_widget),
  card(full_screen = TRUE, card_header("A filling map"), card_body(class = "p-0", leaflet_widget))
)

A filling plot

A filling map

Multiple tabs

navset_card_tab() and navset_card_pill() make it possible to create cards with multiple tabs or pills. These functions have the same full_screen capabilities as normal card()s as well some other options like title (since there is no natural place for a card_header() to be used). Note that, each nav_panel() object is similar to a card(). That is, if the direct children aren’t already card items (e.g., card_title()), they get implicitly wrapped in a card_body().

library(leaflet)
navset_card_tab(
  height = 450,
  full_screen = TRUE,
  title = "HTML Widgets",
  nav_panel(
    "Plotly",
    card_title("A plotly plot"),
    plotly_widget
  ),
  nav_panel(
    "Leaflet",
    card_title("A leaflet plot"),
    leaflet_widget
  ),
  nav_panel(
    shiny::icon("circle-info"),
    markdown("Learn more about [htmlwidgets](http://www.htmlwidgets.org/)")
  )
)

HTML Widgets

Plotly
Leaflet

A plotly plot

A leaflet plot

Learn more about htmlwidgets

Sidebars

As you’ll learn more about in sidebar layouts, layout_sidebar() just works when placed inside in a card(). In this case, if you want fill items (e.g., plotly_widget) to still fill the card like we’ve seen before, you’ll need to set fillable = TRUE in layout_sidebar().

card(
  height = 300,
  full_screen = TRUE,
  card_header("A sidebar layout inside a card"),
  layout_sidebar(
    fillable = TRUE,
    sidebar = sidebar(
      actionButton("btn", "A button")
    ),
    plotly_widget
  )
)

A sidebar layout inside a card

Static images

card_image() makes it easy to embed static (i.e., pre-generated) images into a card. Provide a URL to href to make it clickable. In the case of multiple card_image()s, consider laying them out in multiple cards with layout_column_wrap() to produce a grid of clickable thumbnails.

card(
  height = 300,
  full_screen = TRUE,
  card_image(
    file = "shiny-hex.svg",
    href = "https://github.com/rstudio/shiny"
  ),
  card_body(
    fill = FALSE,
    card_title("Shiny for R"),
    p(
      class = "fw-light text-muted",
      "Brought to you by RStudio."
    )
  )
)

Shiny for R

Brought to you by RStudio.

Flexbox

Both card() and card_body() default to fillable = TRUE (that is, they are CSS flexbox containers), which works wonders for facilitating filling outputs, but it also leads to surprising behavior with inline tags (e.g., actionButton(), span(), strings, etc). Specifically, each inline tag is placed on a new line, but in a “normal” layout flow (fillable = FALSE), inline tags render inline.

card(
  card_body(
    fillable = TRUE,
    "Here's some", tags$i("inline"), "text",
    actionButton("btn1", "A button")
  ),
  card_body(
    fillable = FALSE,
    "Here's some", tags$i("inline"), "text",
    actionButton("btn2", "A button")
  )
)

Here's some inline text

That said, sometimes working in a flexbox layout is quite useful, even when working with inline tags. Here we leverage flexbox’s gap property to control the spacing between a plot, a (full-width) button, and paragraph. Note that, by using markdown() for the paragraph, it wraps the results in a <p> tag, which means the contents of the paragraph are not longer subject to flexbox layout. If we wanted, we could do something similar to render the actionButton() inline by wrapping it in a div().

card(
  height = 325, full_screen = TRUE,
  card_header("A plot with an action links"),
  card_body(
    class = "gap-2 container",
    plotly_widget,
    actionButton(
      "go_btn", "Action button",
      class = "btn-primary rounded-0"
    ),
    markdown("Here's a _simple_ [hyperlink](https://www.google.com/).")
  )
)

A plot with an action links

Here's a simple hyperlink.

In addition to gap, flexbox has really nice ways of handling otherwise difficult spacing and alignment issues. And, thanks to Bootstrap’s flex utility classes, we can easily opt-in and customize defaults.

card(
  height = 300, full_screen = TRUE,
  card_header(
    class = "d-flex justify-content-between",
    "Centered plot",
    checkboxInput("check", " Check me", TRUE)
  ),
  card_body(
    class = "align-items-center",
    plotOutput("id", width = "75%")
  )
)

Centered plot

Check me

Shiny

Since this article is statically rendered, the examples here use statically rendered content/widgets, but the same card() functionality works for dynamically rendered content via Shiny (e.g., plotOutput(), plotlyOutput(), etc).

An additional benefit that comes with using shiny is the ability to use getCurrentOutputInfo() to render new/different content when the output container becomes large enough, which is particularly useful with card(full_screen = T, ...). For example, you may want additional captions/labels when a plot is large, additional controls on a table, etc (see the value boxes article for a clever use of this).

# UI logic
ui <- page_fluid(
  card(
    max_height = 200,
    full_screen = TRUE,
    card_header("A dynamically rendered plot"),
    plotOutput("plot_id")
  )
)

# Server logic
server <- function(input, output, session) {
  output$plot_id <- renderPlot({
    info <- getCurrentOutputInfo()
    if (info$height() > 600) {
      # code for "large" plot
    } else {
      # code for "small" plot
    }
  })
}

shinyApp(ui, server)

Appendix

The following CSS is used to give plotOutput() a background color; it’s necessary here because this documentation page is not actually hooked up to a Shiny app, so we can’t show a real plot.

.shiny-plot-output {
  background-color: #216B7288;
  height: 400px;
  width: 100%;
}